~ strength. endurance. passion.

[SCM Week 3] That was a bust!

Unfortunately week 3 of training for the Space Coast Marathon didn’t go exactly as planned. I would actually say not even close. Oh well, lucky for me it’s still early in training and it was a step back week so no harm done!

Before I get into the weekly training recap I thought I would share a few quick things. First, I’ve decided to finally go Paleo. I added a link there if anyone is interested in the basics of what Paleo is. For me it began with eliminating dairy to determine if I had an allergy. Every day when I woke up I would have a [relatively] flat stomach and every night when I went to bed I would literally look 4 months pregnant. The bloat and discomfort became so unbearable that I decided to look into altering my diet (I hate that word, for me diet = lifestyle, not a short term thing). At FitCrew, a Paleo or Primal way of eating is encouraged (though not required) and Andrew works extensively with helping us eat the right things. So after a year and a half I finally decided to listen to him. And you know what? It works for me.

Of course I’m new to Paleo (about a month or so) but already I’ve noticed a significant decrease in the bloat and my abs are even thinking about making an appearance (this is exciting for me since my abs and I have never officially met)! My energy level is high and I feel like someone peeled a layer of gauze off my brain. I’m having fun with different recipes and enjoying researching all the hows and whys of this way of living. I’ll try to make an effort to update as I progress through this but in the meantime here are a few of my favorite Paleo blogs:

What Runs Lori <– Not sure if she is full Paleo but she has a lot of Paleo recipes.

Second, Mike and I have made some upgrades to my tri bike. We re-wrapped the bars with matching blue wrap (after youtubing a how-to), added my beloved Speed Play pedals in blue and ordered new arm pads for the aero bars. Right now it’s sitting at our LBS getting a little tune-up to make sure everything is in working order and to tighten up the bottom bracket and front hub. I can’t wait to get it back in my hot little hands and ride it! Here it is with the new matching upgrades:

Third, way back when Jena and I decided to run Space Coast Marathon we made a pact that we would run it in our sports bras (aka shirtless), weather permitting. We of course are hoping that it would be too cold for this but we’re talking about Florida in November, anything can happen with the weather. We dubbed this #operationsportsbra and have been using it as extra motivation to complete our workouts and eat the right things. I’m pretty proud to say that so far I’ve done 3 shirtless runs so far, twice in the dark (lol) and once in the broad daylight at a busy park. My confidence has come a long way but I still worry what others think. It’ll come, in time. Check out Jena’s blog to see her progress (hint: she’s been running shirtless too!)!

Week 3 Training

The reason for the setback this week? Tendonitis behind my left knee that, because I kept pushing instead of taking it easy, spread down into my left calf. I’m feeling much better today and am ready to start fresh with week 4. So here’s a look at what I did accomplish in week 3:

Monday: Planned- Rest; Actual- Rest

Tuesday: Planned- 4x800m interval run + ride; Actual- Rest. I knew in advance that the ride wasn’t going to happen because Mike was out of town, which meant I had to get home right after work to let the dogs out. I stupidly left my run for the afternoon and got stormed out.

Wednesday: Planned- FitCrew + 3m recovery run; Actual- FitCrew in the AM + 4x800m interval run in the PM. I shifted things back a day which resulted in running intervals on tired legs. After the intervals is when I felt the tendonitis flare up. The morning’s WOD (3 x 15 min AMRAP WODS):

The evening interval run splits (target pace for the 800s was 7:50 min/mile):

Thursday: Planned- FitCrew; Actual- FitCrew. The tendonitis was definitely present and when I showed up to FitCrew I stupidly kept quiet about the pain until after the WOD. I couldn’t help myself though, this WOD was made for me. Running with a fire hose? Yes please! Did 20lb fire hose, 115lb back squat, 3 rounds in 41 minutes.

I was hobbling a little on Thursday afternoon and so I decided to actually use my brain and rest until I felt better. Unfortunately that was for the next 3 days.

Friday: Planned- 6 mile run + FitCrew; Actual- Rest.

Saturday: Planned- Ride; Actual- Rest

Sunday: Planned- 8 mile run; Actual- Rest

At least today I’m feeling 95% better and am confident that I’ll be able to run pain free tomorrow. This is a lesson I seem to have to learn over and over, I’m definitely guilty of wanting to do it all. Moving forward I’ve dropped the interval runs and vow not to do speed work on tired legs. And of course, not push through pain, that’s just stupid.